Create Preliminary Outline

Creating an outline

An outline presents a picture of your topics main ideas supported by secondary and more specific ideas and details. Outlines come in different forms with varying levels of detail. For a basic outline, The main ideas take roman numerals. Sub-points under each main idea take capital letters and are indented. Sub-points under the capital letters, if any, take italic numbers and are further indented.

        I.  MAIN IDEA
               A. Supporting idea to I
               B. Supporting idea to I
                   1. Supporting idea to B
                   2. Supporting idea to B
                       a) Supporting idea to 2
                       b) Supporting idea to 2

        II.  MAIN IDEA
               A. Supporting idea to II
               B. Supporting idea to II
               C. Supporting idea to II

        III.  MAIN IDEA

It is up to you to decide on how many main ideas and supporting ideas adequately describe the subject.  However, if there is a I in the outline, there has to be a II; if there is an A, there has to be a B; if there is a 1, there has to be a 2, and so forth.

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